United States Ambassador to the Bahamas John Rood has admitted that there is nothing to confirm that human trafficking takes place in the Bahamas and he noted that a recent report from the US State Department on the issue was also unable to provide any evidence of such cases in the country.
But Ambassador Rood, who was the special guest on the radio programme "Jones and Company" on Sunday, said the concern the Americans have is that conditions exist for human trafficking to occur here and the parliament has failed to pass laws against human trafficking.
He noted the use of the word "may" in the report, which sparked local debate last week.
"The Bahamas may be a country of destination for men and women trafficked from other countries for the purpose of labor exploitation," the report said.
It also said, "Some local sources have stated that labor exploitation of Haitians may be widespread, with employers coercing undocumented migrants to work long hours for no pay or significantly below the minimum wage by withholding documents and threatening workers with arrest and deportation.
"Such workers could be subjected to conditions of involuntary servitude, a severe form of trafficking in persons. Some commercial sexual exploitation of minors has been identified in the country."
But the showﾒs host, Wendall Jones, suggested that the report may contain some inaccuracies and pressed the ambassador on this point.
Mr. Rood said, "All weﾒre saying is that it may exist. All this report is saying is that we donﾒt know if there is a trafficking issue in the Bahamas, but thereﾒs a potential for it and thereﾒs a potential for it because of the large numbers of undocumented people in the country that donﾒt have legal standing here."
He noted several times that the government promised legislation in the Speech from the Throne read by Governor General Arthur Hanna in February "to more effectively combat the illegal trafficking in persons that has grown so significantly of late".
Mr. Rood said the United States supports this plan.
Mr. Jones asked why the report wasnﾒt based on facts as opposed to "hearsay".
At that point, the ambassador repeated that the United States was not saying that human trafficking exists, which is why the Bahamas was not listed in the report as a country where human trafficking exists.
"We would like to know if trafficking exists and I think you would like to know if trafficking exists," he said. "Thatﾒs why we and many Bahamians, including the governor general, would like to see legislation that would criminalize trafficking, and also, we would encourage the government to work with NGOs to see if trafficking does exist."
Mr. Rood said that human trafficking is taking place in the United States, which is why authorities there are "aggressively" attacking the problem.
"If thereﾒs a situation where trafficking could exist we want to get to the bottom of it," he said. "Trafficking is one of the most horrific [practices] in the world."
Mr. Rood said it is very difficult for illegal immigrants to stand up for their rights.
He pointed out that human trafficking is different from illegal immigration because trafficking involves taking people against their will.
Mr. Jones then said, "Mr. Ambassador, given your definition of trafficking, I have not heard of one case of trafficking in the Bahamas, but yet the State Department accuses the Bahamas government of not doing sufficient in this particular area."
Specifically, the State Department said, "Little government attention to the issue and the presence of large numbers of illegal migrants in the country raise concerns that there may be a significant number of trafficking victims in need of assistance."
Mr. Rood then reiterated that there is a need for human trafficking legislation in the Bahamas.
He said the United States was not trying to offend or condemn the Bahamas in its report, but is committed to raising awareness of the issue worldwide.
"I think you would agree with me that if there is not legislation, the Bahamas is not doing enough on this very, very important issue. We will like to see every country in the world outlaw human trafficking," Mr. Rood said.
"We may disagree on how to go about itﾅbut this is the way that we do business; we identify countries that donﾒt have legislationﾅso we agree on the end goal."
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
